Lightning
by Babelvr54
Summary: What can a little bit of lightning do? PTSD Babe story, but also fluffy. Oneshot. Complete. No cupcakes harmed, only traumatized doughnuts to be found.


Lightning

So this is how it ends Stephanie thought as she woke up to feel the weight of an elephant on top of her. She squinted an eye open to find the weight of her boyfriend squashing her.

The night before had been an eye opening experience for her. She had never really imagined that a thunderstorm could be cause for stress, embarrassment and anxiety. Last night she discovered that her macho ex-military man was terrified of thunderstorms.

The guys had all pooled together on seven to watch the new Pitch Perfect movie. Two hours later the movie had ended, the popcorn and soda had been consumed and pizza boxes littered the apartment. It had been a perfect night, all the men headed to their own places and Ranger had picked up her squealing form, slammed the door shut and carried her to the bedroom. Ninety minutes later they had been sated and blissfully asleep.

Stephanie had been having the best dream about Ranger and a doughnut. The doughnut had been around a certain body part of Ranger's body and she had been ready to devour it when she was rudely woken from her blissful dream.

Ranger had been sitting on the bed shivering violently. She was about to try comfort him when another bolt of lightning shot across the sky and he jumped off the bed and picked up his revolver from its hiding place.

Stephanie know that screaming would not help nor would shouting. So she did the only thing she could think of in the heat of the moment. She started singing.

"I found a love for me  
Darling just dive right in  
And follow my lead  
Well I found a girl beautiful and sweet  
I never knew you were the someone waiting for me  
'Cause we were just kids when we fell in love…"

Now Stephanie knew that she wasn't the greatest singer in the world, Ranger and she had joked about it countless times. He obviously had the most perfect voice whilst she had a fairly mediocre voice. They had bought a Karaoke mike and had spent countless weekend's together singing at the top of their lungs. However for the purpose of bringing Ranger back to the present, her voice had been perfect.

He blinked his bleary eyes a couple of times before he noticed the gun in his hands. It took him another minute to click the safety back on and place it back in its original hiding place.

Sleep had lost its allure for the both of them. Stephanie cautiously walked over to Ranger and gently placed her arms around him. She let out a breath when he didn't push her away. They stood like that for countless minutes. His hands fisted at his sides and hers placed around him with her head resting on his chest.

Everything was fine for a few minutes until Ranger started freaking out again. Before she knew it he was down on his knees, ripping at her shorts. At any other day, she would be fully on board, but the panicked look in his eyes told her that sex was the furthest thing on his mind. She looked down and realised that her period had started and she was bleeding through. It had been years since this had happened to her, she could feel the mortification flushing her pink.

However, there were more important things to worry about at the moment. Like calming down her protective boyfriend. She knelt down in front of him and captured his hands within her own. She knew that it wouldn't take him much to overpower her, but he was letting her have the power.

"Shh. It's alright Carlos, it's just my period."

He still didn't seem to understand and was fervently mumbling something under his breath and seemed to be checking her for injuries. He was running his hands up and down her body and to her embarrassment, his hands found their way between her legs and onto the blood leaking from her.

She tried once again, this time louder "I'm on my period Carlos. It's alright."

She knew that there was no way she was getting out of this quietly, so she pushed away from him, knowing that he would most definitely be following her, she gave up on any idea of privacy. In the bathroom she stripped off every bit of clothing she had and walked into the shower. Ranger didn't follow her in the shower but stood outside, scanning her body for any injuries. She didn't even bother with the curtain.

She stepped out and knew that it was a race against time so quickly wiped the bottom half of her body before scavenging for a pad and got ready whilst blushing furiously. Any thought for privacy was overshadowed by the intense expression of fear on Carlos' face. She wiped the top half of her body and walked out to the wardrobe to fish out a Rangeman t-shirt and lounge pants. After dressing herself, she grabbed Ranger's hand and led him out to the medicine cabinet and gulped down an Advil.

Another bolt of lightning brought Ranger closer to her body, as if protecting her from unseen forces. She knew without a doubt that he would gladly give his life for hers. That was her motivation for all the training she had gone through the past couple of months. She shuddered to think about a life without him there by her side.

She turned him around and pulled him down for a deep, passionate kiss. The night had been a real trial for her, but she knew that his demons were greater. All she had gone through was a bit of embarrassment, whilst he had to face the devil himself.

Knowing that sleep was a luxury not to be found, she pulled him back to the bed and sat on him lap. Normally she would try to distract him with sex but that was off the table for tonight, even overcoming her aversion of period sex she knew that he wouldn't do well seeling anymore blood tonight, especially if she was the source. So, she held him and she talked. She talked about all the gossip circulating the Burg, she told him about the time her and Mary Lou almost burned down her mother's kitchen, she told him about the time she snuck out of her house and almost ended up in jail because of a soft toy. She talked to him about any and every thing that came to her mind.

After a while, her Ranger, her Carlos came back to her. He held her closer to his chest so that he could feel the vibrations of her words seep into his chest and into his heart. He felt every word, every sound, and eventually he heard her voice grow slow until he could only hear her breathing, slow and steady. He lay down as his own eyes grew heavy and felt himself wrap around her like a vine, making sure that she was safe and sound in his arms. Anyone trying to hurt her would have to get through him first.

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I hope you enjoyed this bit of fluff. Please leave me a nice review. I don't know if I freaked anyone out with the period stuff but when things go wrong, everything tends to go wrong. I imagine that when guys see blood, their first instinct isn't 'period'…


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